Lentil fortitude

January 30, 2010

This is one of those ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ dishes: lentil tabbouleh, from Greg & Lucy Malouf’s Sahabook. In fact, this combo is so obvious, you all probably eat it five times a week, but it’s a delicious revelation to me.

While you could easily do this with canned lentils, I used dried Puy lentils as per the recipe and was reminded again how fantastic they are – they hold their shape so beautifully, and the ever-so-slightly-squeaky texture is a brilliant contrast to the soft moistness of the other ingredients.

My only tip is to add the tomatoes at the last minute before serving, as they start to lose their colour a little once mixed in.

100g Puy lentils

juice 1 lemon

1 cup mint leaves, chopped

1 cup parsley, chopped

3 shallots, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, seeded & diced (this is one occasion where I actually do seed the tomatoes, to prevent sludginess)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground allspice

salt & pepper

I’m pretty sure you can figure out what to do now – cook the lentils in boiling water for 20 mins or so, till just tender; cool; chuck everything in!

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12 comments

The right recipe at the right time! Here I was failing to think up a side dish for tomorrow night’s Spanakopita, something new, salady but not same-old. Charlotte, if there was an award for timely food blog postings, you’ve just won it. Thanks.

I’ve been doing a variation of this for years, and it’s still among my favourite foods – the only significant difference is that I use cumin instead of cinnamon and allspice, and I add a little bit of goat’s cheese and a dozen or so pitted olives. Puy lentils FTW.

And Virginia, those additions sound rather spankingly good (sorry, just reading the Empress’s kinky book – in preparation for this event.. http://stephaniecliffordsmith.com/news%20&%20events.html you really should all come and witness me and Steph trying to work some recipes into a discussion about perversions of various kinds).

I have the Turquoise by the Maloufs, but not Saha. Turquoise is beautiful, but it’s big, unwieldy and oddly shaped. So I enjoy looking at it, but rarely actually cook from the thing. The lentil tabbouleh is lovely though, especially with the bit of allspice.

Thanks Kathryn, nice to have you pop by. And may I say how much I like your blog? SO interesting about the chicken! Lots of good stuff here, you other peeps, and Kathryn is a nutritionist, no less – check it out. http://kathrynelliott.com.au/blog

Ooh Jules – whole flat braised mushrooms, you say! Sounds veddy good indeed. I always think of mushrooms as wintery, for some reason, but praps I’d better rethink. And I agree – the allspice was a revelation to me too.

I took inspiration and made my own version last night from store cupboard stuff. Roasted a chicken with streaky bacon then used juices together with some stock and white wine to boil the lentils. Mixed the lentils with bacon and fried onions. Roasted french beans, tomatoes, courgettes & garlic then mixed everything together with torn mozzarella topped by a juicy leg of chicken. YUM!

Book

Love & Hunger: Thoughts on the Gift of Food is a book about the emotional & symbolic meaning of cooking for people you love. It's a distillation of everything writer Charlotte Wood has learned over 25 years of home cooking, about the pleasures of simple food well made.

aw, shucks

"Wood writes beautifully about food. Partly it's because she has something to say about life, not just about food ... Wood's nimble food writing shifts seamlessly from the hotly contested topic of table-setting on one page to grappling with hunger on another. No philosophy, snobbery, one-upmanship, no competing with restaurant cooks. Just a lot of honesty and admission of failings, mistakes, triumphs and pleasures.
- Helen Greenwood, Sydney Morning Herald

"In this wonderful cookbook-cum-literary memoir, novelist Charlotte Wood evokes memory and emotion as she explains why she loves to cook and what it means to her. Slotted in among the reveries are recipes as diverse as an Elizabeth David-inspired milk-cooked pork and the hedgehog slice of a childhood in Cooma. It's a book that's satisfying to mind AND stomach."
- SBS FEAST magazine

"Charlotte Wood writes so openly about her cooking habits and history and her thoughts about the ethics of good eating that it’s impossible not to be swept up in her enthusiasm. Novice and experienced cooks alike will find something to inspire them here, as Wood has included a range of wonderful, tempting recipes. Reading Love & Hunger is like being invited into Wood’s home, seated at a table crowded with delectable dishes and encouraged to eat until you burst."
- Kylie Mason, The Newtown Review of Books

"This book has the power to reignite a passion for life, friendship, food and the everyday. Part memoir and part recipe book, Love & Hunger can be read cover to cover, as I did, just like a novel, or can be dipped into when the moment requires. Charlotte's unusual cook book is the wise friend many of us do not have ready at hand 24/7. Love & Hunger is a guide, an encouragement and an inspiration.
- John Purcell, Booktopia

"Love & Hunger manages to be a cookbook for the kitchen, a gentle read for the bedside table and a positive affirmation of the pleasure of cooking for family & friends ... This collection of 27 essays gently and sensitively explores the rich complexity and spiritual sustenance that good food with family & friends imparts to our lives. Each chapter explores, a different aspect of ‘the gift of food’ with a number of recipes ‘attached’; all of them good, none of them complex and many wonderfully comforting. There were many moments when reading, we nodded in heated agreement with the almost commonsense views espoused. As one other reviewer noted, it’s rare for a cookbook to move you to tears; be warned you may succumb. ... If there is a criticism to be made, we would only want more…"
- Tim White, Books for Cooks

"Author Charlotte Wood writes like a dream, wrestling with some of those common cooking conundrums, such as dealing with 'polenta paranoia', getting back your kitchen mojo and pondering just what the difference is between a chutney, a relish and a pickle. Her blog is also packed with scrumptious recipes - beetroot palak paneer, anyone?"
- MasterChef Magazine, June 2011